Arvind Kejriwal pens open letter to Haryana

NEW DELHI: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote an open letter to residents of Haryana on Thursday, asking them to rise above petty politics and rebuild the state in the aftermath of the recent Jat agitation.

While senior party members insisted that there was no political agenda behind the letter, written more than two weeks after the unrest was quelled, its tone and content, targeting both the Centre and Congress, was anything but apolitical. The letter is also addressed by Kejriwal as the Delhi CM, not the AAP convenor.

Kejriwal, who hails from Haryana, establishes his ties with the state early on in the letter. "In this hour of grief, I, your brother and son, am with you all the time," he says.

Using rhetoric that was heard most during the JNU crisis where BJP envoked the army to talk about nationalism, Kejriwal says: At one end, Captain Pawan Kumar from Haryana is fighting terrorists to protect our country and at the other, we are fighting among ourselves. There is a trust deficit among the common man. We have to end this fear and mistrust and work towards creating a brotherhood that is built on sacrifice for each other."

Without naming any political party but referring to well known incidents, the Delhi CM draws a binary between AAP and other political parties by referring to "their dirty politics" and how "they will conspire against this feeling of brotherhood".

He says: "Last week we heard that a tape had emerged, implicating a politician from a particular party in instigating the riots. Someone from another party had asked people to keep sticks ready. The government did nothing. Even the Centre remained blind to these happenings. This is not the time for politics. This is time to rise above politics and rebuild our Harayana."

Party sources say that teams from the Haryana unit had met Kejriwal and had asked him to address the people who were emerging from days of horrific violence.